The discussion began after a columnist for the daily Hürriyet wrote an article in defence of the singer. In response, music fans complained to Demir that the music industry had failed to protect one of their own, but Demir didn't agree.

Explaining that he respected Sıla's talent and views, he was of the opinion she had been wrong to call the rally a "show" implying insincerity on the behalf of people who attended.

"People of different religious and political views sat together respectfully, music artists put aside their own views and came together, you have no right to call that unity a farce and then backtrack when you receive a backlash and say you meant your own artistic community and not the public," he tweeted.

"I would have supported her had she just accepted it was a mistake to call it a farce when she realised it offended so many people, rather than blame her own community. She is free not to attend but has no right to question the sincerity of the people who did attend. There were many who didn't go," Demir said.

Tarkan, too, was noticeably absent from the hundreds of thousands of people who gathered in Istanbul for a rally under the hashtag #TurkeyUnited to protest against last month's attempted coup.

Hundreds of famous faces attended the rare tripartisan event, including Tarkan's current music label DMC's exec Samsun Demir, who tweeted photos from the large entourage of celebrities at the anti-coup rally.

However, it seems that any rift has now been put aside with a sponsor, known for its close working ties with Tarkan's music label, backing his September shows. The pop music arm of major music station Kral will promote the series of six shows, which - unusually - are struggling to sell out.

It's not certain whether Demir's tweet about Tarkan means the artist will give a release date for his eagerly awaited pop album before his shows and change the line-up, or do some promotions to minimise the damage to his public image since the flop of his pop album teaser "Cuppa" - released a day before the failed coup.

Tarkan's "Cuppa" has failed to hit the top slot in most official listings once more this week, after another seven days of major airplay.

Entering the official Turkish airplay chart in its 30th week as the third highest entry, the track has been unable to reach a top three position in national airplay charts for two weeks running.